


copper and gold

by salipawpaw



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Homestuck Fusion, Beaches, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Family Bonding, Fluffy Ending, Grapefruit, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Resurrection, Secrets, THEY COME BACK TO LIFE, bet you weren't expecting that from this fandom, it's cool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 14:22:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17469254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salipawpaw/pseuds/salipawpaw
Summary: A memory tickles at the back of Hyungwon’s mind. A kiss: soft, fleeting, lingering on dead lips. Rose gold on pale skin. A sunset. Hyungwon’s Ascension, far more dramatic than it should have been, because Hoseok is a big baby, and yet whenever Hyungwon recalls it his heart flutters.Neither of them have talked about it. They’ve all been so busy breeding frogs and completing quests and trying not to die in the face of the Black King that they haven’t had the time. But the frogs have been bred, the quests completed, and the Black King is lifeless at their heels. Now, they have time. Now, eternity waits at their fingertips.And Hyungwon wants it. Hyungwon wants it with him.-or, the homestuck au that no one asked for





	copper and gold

**Author's Note:**

> im a nerd what's new
> 
> edit: oh my god i just noticed i wrote minkyun instead of minhyuk at one point. minkyun deserved better okay / fixed typo

A soft sigh escapes Hyungwon’s lips. The wind brushes his hair as leaves rustle overhead in a spring symphony, the soft twittering of birdsong adding to Hyungwon’s personal lullaby. He’s in a light slumber, more closing his eyes than truly resting.

If Hyungwon was anyone else, the afternoon sunlight would pour through the leaves and cover his skin with patches of warmth and gold as he reclines in the tree’s branches. But Hyungwon is a child of the Void, and the Void is a thing of secrets and obscurity. Hyungwon uses this, perhaps childishly, to obscure himself from reality and avoid anyone who tries to wake him up.

It’s not a very _mature_ use of his powers. But Hyungwon is also a god, and gods do whatever they want, especially if they lose everything to become one.

-

_The horrorterrors called him their child. Every night, Hyungwon would close his eyes and hope and pray he doesn’t end up there again, but his prayers are never answered and suddenly he isn’t in his bed, but in a pitch black pocket of space surrounded by monsters he could never have imagined to be real. Monsters that he wishes never were, but always have been. They liked him. But he was afraid of them._

_They would whisper secrets into his ears. They would tell him things that only ancient eldritch beings could possibly know. Before everything begins—before anyone else knows what’s going on—they tell him. Of the Game. Of the Rules. Of what they’re going to go through. They tell him to let go, to abandon everything, and Hyungwon believes them._

_And when the Game is finally in session, Hyungwon carries the weight of the knowledge that in order to survive, they would all have to die._

-

All things considered, no one should be able to find Hyungwon. But Hoseok is different. Hoseok is always the one who finds him.

(Hoseok knows Hyungwon always sleeps in the same tree until sunset every day, but it’s knowledge that he hasn’t divulged to any of the five other gods ruling over this realm, so Hyungwon pretends to be surprised every time Hoseok collects him if only for the pleased grin on his lips.)

(Hoseok also knows that Hyungwon knows he knows about his hiding spot, and thinks it’s cute how Hyungwon thinks he’s oblivious. The former’s acting is adorable, and Hoseok could never give it up.)

“Hyungwonnie,” Hoseok calls. He can’t see Hyungwon, but he knows he’s up in the branches somewhere. “Come down, there’s snacks at home.”

Every day Hoseok would call him home like this for some reason or another. Yesterday it was to see Jooheon shove a whole grapefruit in his mouth. Minhyuk had been egging him on apparently.

( _Jooheon cheated with his powers,_ the Void whispers. Hyungwon almost wishes the Void were a physical entity so that he could punch it.)

“Kihyun made cookies,” Hoseok adds before whistling a familiar tune. He’s glancing up in the general direction of where Hyungwon is perched, but Hoseok’s gaze is unfocused. _Duh,_ Hyungwon tells himself, _he can’t see you._

There is something else, though. It niggles at the back of Hyungwon’s mind like an itch he can’t scratch. _A secret,_ the Void tells him. Hoseok is hiding something.

Hyungwon kicks himself off of the branch and hovers over Hoseok upside down. He exits the Void, and Hoseok visibly brightens when Hyungwon appears floating in front of him. “Hi,” Hoseok greets, expectantly as if he’s waiting for something.

Hoseok is watching him now, and a beat passes before Hyungwon grabs his cheek and plants a kiss onto his soft lips. Hoseok hums in appreciation, but before he can deepen it, Hyungwon moves away to set himself upright. Hoseok pouts.

“What?” Hyungwon quirks a brow. “It’s what you wanted.”

“Not entirely,” Hoseok says. “Could have kissed me a little longer.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Is it begging if you hear it from the Void instead of me?” Hoseok furrows his brows, but Hyungwon can tell it’s not in anger. “Sometimes I just wanna tell you stuff myself, y’know.”

“Like what?” Hyungwon asks, like the Void won’t just tell him.

“Things,” Hoseok says airily. “I’ll tell you... soon.”

Hyungwon can tell Hoseok doesn’t want him to ask the Void. But the Void is already whispering the answer, and Hoseok, lips quirking, probably already knows this. Hyungwon’s heart warms at what he hears, and his lips part to reply—reciprocate—but Hoseok shushes him.

“I’ll tell you soon,” Hoseok repeats and Hyungwon doesn’t say anything about the way Hoseok laces their fingers together tighter than usual. He doesn’t say anything about the ring he knows is in Hoseok’s pocket, either.

-

_”I’ll tell you soon,” Hyungwon hears himself say. He’s holding a phone to his ear, long fingers tapping a familiar tune on its case. Some track from long ago, before this shitty Game started._

_Hoseok had called him immediately after they figured out how to alchemize cell phones. It hasn’t been long since the seven of them entered the Medium, and everyone was confused and scared. Hoseok especially, with his soft rabbit heart. He needs reassurance that Hyungwon can’t give if he keeps asking about the fucking frogs._

_“I wanna know, though,” Hoseok almost whines. “Why does Jooheon get a cool frog-breeding volcano mission but not me?”_

_Hyungwon pinches the bridge of his nose. “You have your own quest, I told you. It serves a purpose just like Honey’s.”_

_“But what is it?” Hoseok asks then. “Why are the frogs important?”_

_”Stop asking about the frogs and focus on your quest,” Hyungwon insists. If he tells Hoseok about the frogs he might want to “help” and accidentally cause a fatal setback. “I’ll tell you about it when Honey makes progress.”_

_“I don’t know what my quest is,” comes Hoseok’s voice, tinny and crackling now as the Void creeps up on Hyungwon. “Do you?”_

_“I can’t tell you about your quest.” Hyungwon almost releases a relieved sigh when the Void hums in approval. “You have to figure it out, and fast. Talk to the locals.”_

_The Void told him Hoseok needed to Ascend first. To make everyone else’s Ascension painless, Hoseok needs to suffer. The Void repeats it like a mantra, and guilt nibbles at Hyungwon’s throat._

_Hoseok goes on and on about the locals being so small and cute that he can’t take them seriously, but all Hyungwon hears is the Void hissing that Hoseok must die._

-

Kihyun’s cookies are a gift from god.

It’s not the most appropriate declaration, because Kihyun is god, and there are six others who are also god, but none of them can bake as well as Kihyun can. Hyungwon speaks from experience.

“You’re getting crumbs all over the couch!” Kihyun nags, swatting at Minhyuk with a dirty spatula.

“You’re getting flour on my sweater!” Minhyuk complains in return. He stands and dusts himself off, getting even more crumbs on the couch in the process. Kihyun looks like he’s about to bust an artery.

Before Kihyun can start beating Minhyuk up with his spatula, Jooheon snaps a finger and the crumbs are suddenly invisible.

“Where’d it go?” Hoseok asks, tilting his head.

“It’s gone,” Jooheon bluffs. “I destroyed it.”

(It’s a lie. The Void tells Hyungwon that it’s _under_ the couch now, which Kihyun would probably be even more pissed about.)

Jooheon shoots Hyungwon a look. _Don’t you dare open your mouth,_ is what it says, and Hyungwon snorts. Really, he could’ve just sent the crumbs off into the Void.

“This probably isn’t how we should be using our powers,” Changkyun pipes up from where he’s snuggled into Jooheon’s side. He’s clutching an old Gameboy Color, beeping with the unmistakable shrieks of Generation 2 Pokémon. Hyungwon fuzzily recalls that Jooheon had materialized it from somewhere, probably a dumpster.

“As long as it’s not hurting anyone, it’s fine,” Shownu replies without glancing up from his mug of coffee. Hyungwon sighs. He shouldn’t be drinking that. _It’s four in the afternoon._

“Son Hyunwoo, don’t encourage them,” Kihyun grumbles. As a response Shownu puts down his coffee and tugs Kihyun down by the crook of his elbow. Kihyun’s whole face reddens when Shownu kisses him on the cheek. It’s cute, really, how much of a mess Kihyun is when it comes to Shownu. He starts spluttering about how Shownu has _some nerve trying to trip me up like that!_ and how he _can’t just do that in front of the kids!_

Shownu just pecks him again, on the lips this time, and Kihyun shuts up for good. Shownu goes back to his mug of coffee and Kihyun buries his face in Shownu’s shoulder in his embarrassment. _Cute,_ Hyungwon thinks.

“Ewww,” Minhyuk teases. “Mom and dad are being gross!”

Hoseok laughs at Minhyuk’s remark and his eyes twinkle and Hyungwon’s heart hurts. His cookie is halfway to his mouth when Hyungwon plops himself in Hoseok’s lap and steals it from him. Hoseok frowns, but drops it once Hyungwon leans back into his chest. He snakes his arms around Hyungwon, humming in contentment.

When Hyungwon closes his eyes, he can hear the Void whispering _this won’t last forever,_ but the sound of Changkyun mocking Kihyun and Hoseok’s barking laughter in response is louder, and Hyungwon doesn’t let it bother him. This is home, surely. Hyungwon is home.

-

_The Void said that the Game would take lives. Hoseok is the first._

_Hoseok had been far into his quest, far enough that Hyungwon’s chest swells with pride, but then Hoseok had reached the denizen living deep within the Land of Petals and Ice, and, inevitably, he was given the Choice. Hoseok chose to die._

_It’s vaguely poetic, the way that the ice melts from the warmth of Hoseok’s blood. It pools at the base of his quest bed where vines had begun to grow. Hyungwon has half a mind to think that the blood would stop there, but it runs and it runs, down the quest bed’s rocky plane, down the sides of the mountain, spreading and spreading until everything is tinted crimson. Under Hyungwon’s blank gaze, everything melts._

_Hyungwon watches through the screen of his flimsy laptop as Hoseok’s blood stains the Land and heals it, flowers growing and blooming on its surface. Hyungwon can’t do anything now. Not even if his heart hurts._

_By giving his last breath, Hoseok breathes Life into a dead Land. And soon, the Void whispers, he will be taking Life away._

-

It’s dark out, now. Hyungwon had slipped away when everyone began to doze off. A few shots of soju and Changkyun was out like a light, everyone snuggling up around him on the couch. (They love their maknae a lot, but no one would ever admit this sober.)

They had built their home in a town a certain distance from the sea, but close enough that on some days the air would smell like salt and if Hyungwon closes his eyes, he could hear the waves lapping gently against the earth. He likes to wander on occasion, and sometimes he ends up with his toes buried in the sand.

He can’t tell how much time has passed, but he eventually makes it to the beach and stares the ocean down. The ocean can’t hide anything from him. No one can. It’s how Hyungwon knows that, despite how beautifully Jooheon had engineered this earth, there is still an infinite number of horrorterrors beneath the waves. It’s also how Hyungwon knows that _someone_ is trying to sneak up behind him.

“Hoseok-hyung, I know you’re there.” Hyungwon sighs, but he has a smile on his face. “Dunno why you keep trying to do this.”

“It was worth a shot,” Hoseok says. He rests his chin on Hyungwon’s shoulder, and Hyungwon almost collapses with the knowledge that Hoseok is most likely flying just to do this. 

Hyungwon hums. “Was it really?”

“You’re cute when you’re exasperated,” is Hoseok’s reply.

“I am a child of Void,” Hyungwon says. “I know all your secrets and I can erase you from reality. I am not cute.”

“Cute,” Hoseok coos, curling his arms around Hyungwon’s torso. He kisses Hyungwon’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

 _Alive_ is a buzzword that makes Hyungwon’s head spin. Sometimes he can’t believe they’re all still breathing. “I’m glad you’re alive, too,” is what comes out of his mouth, but Hyungwon wants to say something else.

He hasn’t forgotten about the ring. He knows Hoseok hasn’t, either, but Hyungwon hopes whatever is keeping it in his pocket goes away soon, because there’s almost nothing Hyungwon wouldn’t do for this man. _I love you,_ Hyungwon wants to say. _I want to spend forever with you._

“Kiss me,” Hyungwon says instead.

-

_“Kill me,” Hyungwon says, voice taut._

_He’s perched on the cold surface of his quest bed, the ever-setting sun of his planet bathing him in a golden glow. The sunlight is warm on his skin, but Hyungwon doesn’t feel anything other than cold. The Void tells him that it is time._

_In front of him, Hoseok hovers. The sun’s rays tint the planes of Hoseok’s handsome face with warmth. His moon-white pallor melts into fine rose, like he’s made of copper and gold instead of flesh and bone. Hyungwon would have mistaken him for a renaissance sculpture if not for the tears threatening to spill over his cheeks._

_”I’m scared,” Hoseok murmurs, bites his lower lip. “I don’t want to lose you.”_

_”I didn’t lose you,” Hyungwon replies. His hand twitches with the desire to reach out and caress Hoseok’s cheek—wipe away his tears—but he stops himself. It would only delay the inevitable. The Void hisses at him to hurry, and Hyungwon swallows a gulp. “I’ll be fine, hyung.”_

_”What if you get hurt?” Hoseok’s voice trembles. In the moment he sounds more like a child than a god, ethereal glow be damned. However much Hyungwon wants to hold him, he can’t, and they both remain shaking in their own arms._

_Time is ticking. The Void says that they need to move. For each passing second, the battle in the sky grows fiercer and the Reckoning draws near. If they want to survive, they must all be gods by its arrival._

_”I’m asking you to kill me so that it won’t hurt,” Hyungwon says. “If you don’t want to, I’ll do it myself, and I WILL get hurt.”_

_Hoseok looks conflicted, pretty white teeth reappearing over his bottom lip. “I’m sorry,” Hoseok begins, “I just...”_

_”You what?” Hyungwon snaps. The Void’s claws skim over his ribs. “Finish that sentence. We don’t have time.”_

_Hyungwon squints as Hoseok leans close. Their foreheads are touching, now, and Hyungwon can hear his own heartbeat in his ears._

_”Just let me—let me do this... before I kill you,” Hoseok breathes, tears finally falling. “Please... don’t stop me.”_

_And Hyungwon doesn’t. The last thing he feels before the darkness takes him is the warm press of Hoseok’s lips on his._

_(When the Life is taken from Hyungwon’s body, he is transported to the battlefield in the sky. He doesn’t see how Hoseok embraces his corpse for hours, sobbing softly over his lifeless form.)_

-

“I wish Honey were here,” Hyungwon mumbles from the crook of Hoseok’s neck. His lips are red and sore from kissing, so he tried to hide his face in Hoseok’s collar and nap there. Just like that, neck pains from being too tall for his partner and all. Hyungwon could sleep anywhere. Probably.

At some point after Hyungwon tries to nap on Hoseok, the latter snakes his arms around Hyungwon and starts swaying in a manner that _could_ have been a slow dance, but this isn’t a movie. If it were, Elvis would have started singing in the background five minutes ago.

“Why would you want Honey here?” is Hoseok’s response, and Hyungwon can imagine his face scrunch up without looking, the way it does when he’s confused. 

“Can _you_ materialize a stereo from thin air?” Hyungwon jabs teasingly. “Our romantic slow dance can’t be a romantic slow dance without music.”

“This is a slow dance?” Hoseok hums. “I guess we do need music, then.”

In his mind’s eye, Hyungwon can see Hoseok’s eyes twinkling, as if he’s the one who belongs in the sky instead of the stars. But then he starts to sing, and Hyungwon almost loses it.

 _”We’re no strangers to love,”_ Hoseok croons. _”You know the rules, and so do I.”_

His accent is still distinctly Korean, but there’s no mistaking it. It’s the stupid song Changkyun plays in the middle of the night when Minhyuk wakes Jooheon up to try and convince him that they should sleep together.

“Oh my god, I hate you,” is what Hyungwon says, but he’s laughing the next second and Hoseok, eyes crinkling, starts to sing louder.

 _This definitely isn’t a movie,_ Hyungwon thinks. It’s better. He doesn’t have to look at Hoseok to know that he agrees.

(About halfway through the song, Hyungwon joins in, belting Rick Astley at the top of his lungs, and suddenly it’s not a romantic slow dance anymore, but something else—some kind of historic event with only the stars as its witness.)

(It’s really nothing, Hyungwon thinks, but it definitely feels like Something.)

-

_This definitely isn’t a movie, Hyungwon thinks. It’s better. He doesn’t have to look at his six companions to know that they agree._

_After hours upon hours of strained muscles and fractured bones and bleeding wounds, they had done it. They defeated the Black King terrorizing the battlefield in the sky, and now the glow of the Ultimate Reward bathes them in a pale white light, pulsing, waiting for them to push open the door and pass through to their new world. Their new world, which they will rule over as gods._

_Hyungwon almost doesn’t believe it—that all the death, all the suffering, is over. He almost doesn’t believe that they’re all still breathing. They’re bloody and they’re bruised but they’re breathing, and now they’re gods of a new world that Jooheon made just for them. Now no one has to get blood on his hands. Now no one has to die._

_When Hyungwon glances to the side he sees twinkling eyes, crinkled in mirth yet so, so incredibly tired at the same time. They all are. But it’s Hoseok, and Hoseok smiles, and Hyungwon feels a little of himself come back._

_”We did it,” Hoseok says, quietly enough that only Hyungwon hears him. “We’re going to leave this place.”_

_”We are,” Hyungwon replies almost automatically. “You don’t have to kill any of us anymore.”_

_A memory tickles at the back of Hyungwon’s mind. A kiss: soft, fleeting, lingering on dead lips. Rose gold on pale skin. A sunset. Hyungwon’s Ascension, far more dramatic than it should have been, because Hoseok is a big baby, and yet whenever Hyungwon recalls it his heart flutters._

_Neither of them have talked about it. They’ve all been so busy breeding frogs and completing quests and trying not to die in the face of the Black King that they haven’t had the time. But the frogs have been bred, the quests completed, and the Black King is lifeless at their heels. Now, they have time. Now, eternity waits at their fingertips._

_And Hyungwon wants it. Hyungwon wants it with him._

_”Remember when you kissed me?” Hyungwon whispers. He doesn’t miss the way Hoseok’s breath hitches with his words. “Did you like it?”_

_Hoseok, because he’s Hoseok, says, “I hated everything about that day,” and doesn’t look the least bit regretful. He tilts his head like a puppy and Hyungwon’s heart clenches._

_”I’ve always wanted to kiss you,” Hoseok confesses, cheeks rosy and eyes averted. “But I didn’t want it to be because I was gonna kill you after.”_

_Something warm curls in Hyungwon’s chest. He can’t believe Hoseok exists. “And why is that?”_

_”Because I like you,” Hoseok says immediately like it’s a given, like an unspoken “duh” is tacked onto the end, and then he clasps his hands over mouth like he didn’t realize what he was saying. A beat passes._

_”You idiot,” Hyungwon teases, already prying Hoseok’s hands off of his face. “I like you, too.”_

_Hoseok’s face lights up. Hyungwon’s lips stretch into a rare grin, and then Hoseok’s cupping his cheek and leaning close, enough for their foreheads to touch and his warm breath to fan over Hyungwon’s cheek, and then his eyes are twinkling again and they look like the night sky and Hyungwon’s just stargazing and wow, he’s so beautiful, Hyungwon is so lucky, and—_

_And then Hoseok is kissing him, and Hyungwon’s mind shuts down._

_When their lips meet, there is no sunset painting their skin. The threat of oncoming loss doesn’t loom over their shoulders and tears don’t fall. Instead of the quiet hum of early twilight, it’s the cacophony of disgusted groans from their friends that serves as the soundtrack for their embrace. Distracting and hardly romantic, but then again, Hyungwon thinks, this isn’t a movie._

_It’s better._

-

The sun is staining the sky with pink and gold when Hyungwon wakes up. His body is cold where Hoseok isn’t burying into his side and he figures that they must have fallen asleep some time after yelling Rick Astley into the void.

(Not the Void, which is different, but the void.)

Hyungwon doesn’t remember climbing into a hammock last night, so Hoseok must have moved them there when Hyungwon inevitably fell asleep standing up. They’re in a tangled mess now, limbs all over each other. Hoseok had one leg over the edge—probably to rock them to sleep. It’s cute. He’s got drool on his cheek.

Sometimes when Hyungwon looks at him, he thinks that maybe _this_ is the Ultimate Reward, instead of this world that they rule over now; that maybe the Reward is not the world but the memories they make in it. It’s not, of course, but Hoseok’s face, asleep with dark lashes resting against pale cheeks, could have fooled him.

It’s only a minute later that Hoseok wakes up, blinking the sleep out of his starlit eyes.

“Morning,” Hoseok yawns. “Sleep well?”

“Mm,” Hyungwon hums. “Always do.”

Shifting onto his side, Hoseok slings an arm over Hyungwon’s waist and cuddles further into him. Still sleepy, it seems, yawning quietly into Hyungwon’s collar. “D’you wanna get up now?”

He doesn’t _want_ to get up, really. He wants to stay here, forever, sleeping entangled in Hoseok’s arms. Hoseok looks like an angel backlit by the pink and gold of the sun rising over the waves behind him, and Hyungwon wishes fleetingly that he could stop the world from turning so that he could stay suspended in this moment, peaceful and relaxed. Hoseok is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Have you seen yourself?” Hoseok says. Apparently Hyungwon had said that out loud. “You’re the most beautiful thing _I’ve_ seen.”

“Oh no, a stalemate,” Hyungwon deadpans, and then because he has no self-control in the mornings, he blurts, “I love you.”

It’s hard to believe, really, that in the three months after they finished the Game, Hyungwon had never said that out loud. He’s always been too afraid, despite what the Void whispers into his ears. But now he‘s said it, and nerves make his hairs rise on end.

...And then Hoseok is looking up at him like he hung the stars, and Hyungwon wonders why he was ever scared.

“I love you, too,” Hoseok says, easily, naturally, as if he’s been saying it all this time. Then Hyungwon remembers his voice, calling out to him, coming to find him, reminding him to have his meals, a warm body walking with him on the beach and naming the stars; remembers singing in the middle of the night, Rick Astley’s words rolling off their tongues in broken English; remembers that he woke up in a comfy hammock today only because Hoseok had carried him there and cuddled him after he fell asleep, and then he thinks—no, realizes—that maybe, just maybe, Hoseok _has_ been saying it all this time. That he loves Hyungwon. And Hyungwon is a fool for not seeing it.

He’s had enough.

For the first time in a while, Hyungwon lets Hoseok’s secrets be damned. He reaches into Hoseok’s pocket and pulls out the ring he knows has been there for the entire day. It’s as rose gold as the sky was when Hoseok took Hyungwon’s Life, and yet it’s not the chill of the memory which seeps into Hyungwon’s bones but warmth: a sweet, comforting thing.

“Marry me,” Hyungwon says.

Hoseok looks shocked. But only for a second, and then he’s laughing in that sweet tone that makes Hyungwon feel like he’s done everything right.

“I really can’t hide anything from you, can I?” Hoseok asks. There isn’t any malice in eyes, but there is mirth, and it suits him so much better.

“No, you can’t,” Hyungwon replies before he nudges Hoseok with his free hand. “Will you marry me?”

“I wanted to ask _you_ that,” Hoseok says, prompting Hyungwon to roll his eyes.

“You were taking too slow,” is Hyungwon’s reply. “Will you marry me or not?”

Hoseok hums, vulpine lips curling into a grin. “I dunno. Maybe?”

“What kind of answer is that?” Hyungwon hits him. “You’re the one who bought this.”

“Kidding, kidding,” Hoseok says, touching their foreheads together. The ring is squished between them now. “Chae Hyungwon, you’re the love of my life. Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Great,” Hyungwon says, slipping the ring onto his own finger. He doesn’t miss the quirked eyebrow. “What? You bought this for me.”

Hoseok shakes his head. “You’re incredible,” he murmurs, snuggling into Hyungwon’s chest. “I love you.”

Hyungwon remembers a sunset tinting the planes of Hoseok’s handsome face with warmth. He remembers moon-white pallor melting into fine rose, like it was made of copper and gold instead of flesh and bone. He remembers a god hovering over him, about to take his life with tears in his eyes.

Now, there is sunrise. Instead of an end, the sky bears witness to a beginning. Together, not apart. Hyungwon holds a sleeping god in his arms and smiles. Eternity is theirs.


End file.
